Blog Post

Kubuntu Is Not Dead

Kubuntu is not dead, it is in fact just as alive today as it was last month. Those of you who are posting things like, “Time to jump ship” or “Kubuntu is dead“, where do you get your facts? Did you happen to read Jonathan’s blog post? Where in there does it say that Kubuntu is dead? Why jump ship? Why jump ship to another distro that is only supported by a few instead of a larger community? I don’t get your logic, and truthfully, saying things like I have read thus far, is nothing more than childish at best. The worst part is that so-called journalists are writing such things, and not just mindless or thoughtless people. I saw one site change the title of their post because they were fact checked by Jonathan in a comment.

Did you know that the 11.10 release of Kubuntu was damn near 100% a community effort? Did you know that Jonathan switched rolls during that release to work on bzr and not Kubuntu (which is something I wish more companies would do, that being allow their employees to move around to try different jobs). Did you know that pretty much every release has happened because of the volunteer community more so than Canonical?

Canonical is not stopping Kubuntu, they are stopping the funding. Stopping the funding doesn’t mean that Kubuntu is dead. If you support the idea that Kubuntu is dead because of this, then damn near every distribution that you want to jump ship to is also dead.

Jumping ship in a time like this equates to nothing more than a slap in the face of everyone who has worked their asses off to offer to you, free in every sense of the word, Kubuntu. Remember, Jonathan was the only paid Kubuntu developer, everyone else did it for free. Don’t disrespect their hard work with your flawed logic.

And if you still believe Kubuntu is dead, why don’t you hop on IRC and join #kubuntu-devel. Does that look dead to you? Just this morning I saw the volunteers working on bugs and discussing updates and fixes for 12.04. Instead of giving up so quickly, why don’t you support the community? Let the developers know you appreciate their work, let them know your issues, help mold the future of Kubuntu.

Haha I loved this part. “If you support the idea that Kubuntu is dead because of this, then damn
near every distribution that you want to jump ship to is also dead.”

Anonymous

Well said, nixternal. Also, Canonical is only stopping the funding of Jonathan; we are still providing all the infrastructure and services that the project needs as usual.

AdamH

Is Kubuntu 12.04 still going to be an LTS version, and still supported on the desktop for 5 years? Basically, is it safe for a company to deploy Kubuntu, and could they get paid support if they needed to? (Although there’s always good community support as per usual). Many thanks… Adam.

Adam, Yes, Kubuntu 12.04 will still be an LTS version. Kubuntu should always have an LTS release alongside Ubuntu in the future as well, just as Edubuntu & Xubuntu have done over the years as community projects.

AdamH

That’s great to know Rich, many thanks – the fact that Kubuntu will have continuing LTS releases in future (albeit community-supported rather than direct Canonical support), presumably aligned with Ubuntu LTS releases, is very reassuring. To be honest, I usually install “standard” Ubuntu (with Unity), then add lubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop, GNOME Shell (and maybe Cinnamon too), so that we can pick and choose easily, and have the best of all versions, and will probably do this with 12.04 LTS too. Anyway, I think Ubuntu, Kubuntu and the other derivatives have a great future ahead of them – thanks for all the hard work!
Kind regards, Adam.

Jonathan Jesse

we always new Kubuntu was the blue-headed step child they never really wanted, now its official. I remember hearing Mark say once that he fully supported Kubuntu… We’ve seen more and more focus on Ubuntu only stuff (Unity, this silly achievement section, dropping Kubuntu from the Official Ubuntu Book, etc.) No surprise just a bit saddened by this. Jonathan has done great work in the community and I hope it survives.

I’ll continue doing doc work until it goes away.

Anonymous

Will Ubuntu continue to provide repositories for installs and updates?

Good to hear Lea! Yes, Kubuntu 12.04 will still be LTS. In the future LTS releases, Kubuntu should always be LTS right along side Ubuntu, just like Edubuntu & Xubuntu have done over the years.

Thetall82

I came back to my first love KDE after more than 3 years also thanks to Kubuntu 11.04, a really good and stable release. The latest news just change one thing to me: I’ll make bigger donations to the Kubuntu project 😉
Maybe this funding stop from Canonical will make Kubuntu prospect, with more customization and even more community effort. Keep up the great work guys!

Thetall82

I came back to my first love KDE after more than 3 years also thanks to Kubuntu 11.04, a really good and stable release. The latest news just change one thing to me: I’ll make bigger donations to the Kubuntu project 😉
Maybe this funding stop from Canonical will make Kubuntu prosper, with more customization and even more community effort. Keep up the great work guys!

Winxp

Get real. Kubuntu was a failure from day one. Well past time to bury it.

Claudinho

I started using Kubuntu the same year it was born. It had exactly what I wanted: KDE+Debian. An unbeatable combo!

My four machines at home have it installed. At work, my team (we do embedded software) and several co-workers use it (when they need an OS that does not choke).

I do not know if because of being linked to Ubuntu or what, but Kubuntu has been always a target for the trolls. I remember a few years ago it was very common to see very virulent posts in DistroWatch. To those that are not sure about Kubuntu, I ask you to install and compare the top distros every year like I do, I bet you will pick Kubuntu.

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Who is Richard A. Johnson?

My name is Richard A. Johnson. I am a professional developer, as
well as an open source enthusiast, advocate, and author. I spend
any free time I can get cycling.

Back in 1994 I was introduced to the world of open source
software by installing Linux on a PC I had purchased from the
Navy Exchange. At that time I had no idea what I was going up
against, but never once did I let myself get frustrated, as
Windows had already done that to me. Since then, I have
completely immersed myself into the open source world and have
been an active contributor.